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The Brief History of American Foreign Policy
The United States of America, founded in 1775, won the American Revolution, or, more accurately, a British civil war that lasted until 1783.
On the 19th of 1781, General Lord Charles Cornwallis surrendered 7087 officers and 900 seamen, 100 and 40 cannons, 15 galleys, a frigate, and 30 transport vessels.
(My behind the paywall link.)
On the day of the surrender, General Cornwallis pleaded illness, and his second-in-command, General Charles O’Hara, carried Cornwallis’ sword to the American and French commanders.
As the British and Hessian troops marched out to surrender, the British bands played the song “The World Turned Upside Down.”
The war continued to be waged on the high seas, with the British having their true strength at sea due to being a primarily maritime power.
The final truce was made in the Treaty of Paris, which began with negotiations in 1782 and was signed on 3 September 1783, when it was ratified.
Before this date and Cornwallis’s surrender in 1781, all fighting had primarily been concluded on the North American continent. In practical terms, the new American state had won the war but was now trying to win the peace.
